Locks which, being intended particularly for taking part in closing a vehicle trunk, are provided with means to prevent the pawl from automatically adopting the locked position again, in which it prevents the movement of the latch in the opening direction thereof, when for any reason and after operating the lock for opening the trunk, it is not sufficiently moved from its normal closed position and therefore, despite having released the latch, it does not rotate in its opening direction, are known today. If the lock is not provided with these means, what would occur is that when the trunk is to be moved in a direction for opening same, the pawl would prevent it by being arranged in an automatic manner in its locked position as a result of the associated spring, preventing the movement of the latch towards its open position.
To prevent this drawback, it is possible to provide the lock with means which prevent the automatic return of the pawl to its locked position if the latch continues to adopt its closed position after operating the lock for opening the trunk. In the scope of the invention, these means are referred to as accumulation means and the mechanical solution conventionally used for such purpose are referred to as a snow load lever. This expression is suggested by the fact that the circumstance arose where the weight of snow accumulated on a trunk prevented the instantaneous movement thereof in its opening direction after operating the lock with the drawback that this entailed if the lock was not provided with means to prevent the automatic return of the pawl to its locked position.
One example of a lock provided with a snow load lever or an equivalent element is the lock described in document DE 102006032033.
The first objective of the present invention is to disclose an alternative to the mechanical solution described in document DE 102006032033.
One lock variant described in document DE 102006032033 has a trigger which can be operated by a motor pushing the pawl towards its release position during the lock opening operation. The accumulation means consist of a storage step configured in the form of a first storage rib and a second locking rib, both being concentric to one another. By arranging the pawl in its release position, a tab formed in the trigger is arranged in front of the locking rib which prevents the return of the trigger to its starting position and also of the pawl resting on the trigger.